Healing and care

Monday, October 18 was the feast day of St. Luke. "St. Luke is identified by tradition as the author of both Luke and Acts. Luke is careful to place the events of Jesus’ life in both their social and religious contexts. Some of the most loved parables, including the good Samaritan and the prodigal son, are found only in this gospel. Luke’s gospel has also given the church some of its most beautiful songs: the Benedictus sung at morning prayer, the Magnificat sung at evening prayer, and the Nunc dimittis sung at the close of the day. These songs are powerful witnesses to the message of Jesus Christ" (Augsburg Fortress, Lesser Festivals and Commemorations).

Paula Modersohn-Becker. Good Samaritan, from Art in the Christian Tradition

In Colossians, Luke is referred to as a physician, and as a result we often think of him in connection to healing and medicine. Praying for healing and caring for the sick are important parts of our call to love our neighbors. Many Gospel stories refer to Jesus's healing miracles, and in some, care for the sick from community members is highlighted as well (remember that story from Luke 5 where a paralyzed man's friends lower him through the roof in order to reach Jesus?!). 

In this time of online worship and in-person distancing, I've thought longingly of those times in the past when I had the opportunity to offer a laying on of hands and prayers for healing as a part of the worship service. As each person knelt in front of me at the altar rail, I would place both hands on their head and pray the following prayer, ending with marking a cross in oil on their forehead.

Father in heaven, for Jesus’ sake,
send your Holy Spirit upon your servant, (name);
drive away all sickness of body and spirit;
make whole that which is broken;
deliver her/him from the power of evil;
and preserve her/him in true faith,
to share in the power of Christ’s resurrection
and to serve you with all the saints now and evermore.
For your healing, I anoint you in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Though healing is so often a mystery, our prayers are powerful ways to connect to God and one another. In the words we speak and in the sighs and sobs on our lips, we trust that God comes near to us, desiring our restoration to wholeness and life. We give thanks for a God who works through physicians and medical personnel, and for the community that surrounds and cares for us.


Bonus Resources:

• As we pray for healing for bodies and minds, we also pray for the healing of the earth and all nations. This gorgeous litany remembers in prayer all the nations of the world.